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- Dec 22, 2003
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So then. Mr Lennon asked us to imagine there's no country, nothing to kill or die for.
But Is there an alternative to countries?
Turns out the well-defined nation state isn't all that old of a construct:
I know the very ideas expressed below terrify some but it turns out that them and their views are the by-product of a recent invention:
That article is interesting on a number of levels, not least that it loosely posits the model that we may be moving towards (hinted at by someone who worked at one of the highest levels of political offce).
I could have stuck this in the Europe thread, but it's about much more than the EU and the petty squabbling over brexit. It's about alternative government and the ideas and structures that are being posited and being brought about to govern us.
Any similar things we find, bung in here for discussion. But lets attempt leave personal sniping out (and "comedic" thread derailing remarks about how that'll never happen around here "lol").
That article does show some of the areas where the EU (and other supranational government) has failed and highlighted some of it's successes and given ideas of how things could move forward...
But Is there an alternative to countries?
Turns out the well-defined nation state isn't all that old of a construct:
Before the late 18th century there were no real nation states... If you travelled across Europe, no one asked for your passport at borders; neither passports nor borders as we know them existed. People had ethnic and cultural identities, but these didn’t really define the political entity they lived in.
I know the very ideas expressed below terrify some but it turns out that them and their views are the by-product of a recent invention:
To strengthen the hand of the nation state nationalism has been rammed down our throats since birth, so people who cling to the view that ethnic homogeny is the norm or that we're being invaded by other cultures are to be pitied for the abuses that nation states have subjected them to to make them feel that way. Their views are evidentially further from how humans have lived and thought throughout the ages.nation states still thrive on a widely held belief that “the world is naturally made of distinct, homogeneous national or tribal groups which occupy separate portions of the globe, and claim most people’s primary allegiance”. But anthropological research does not bear that out... Even in tribal societies, ethnic and cultural pluralism has always been widespread. Multilingualism is common, cultures shade into each other, and language and cultural groups are not congruent.
people always have a sense of belonging to numerous different groups based on region, culture, background and more. The claim that a person’s identity and well-being is tied in a central way to the well-being of the national group is wrong as a simple matter of historical fact
That article is interesting on a number of levels, not least that it loosely posits the model that we may be moving towards (hinted at by someone who worked at one of the highest levels of political offce).
I could have stuck this in the Europe thread, but it's about much more than the EU and the petty squabbling over brexit. It's about alternative government and the ideas and structures that are being posited and being brought about to govern us.
Any similar things we find, bung in here for discussion. But lets attempt leave personal sniping out (and "comedic" thread derailing remarks about how that'll never happen around here "lol").
That article does show some of the areas where the EU (and other supranational government) has failed and highlighted some of it's successes and given ideas of how things could move forward...